St. Landry democrat., 1887-08-06

! is distinguished above all others for the
! absence OF that froliCking and romping
| that one sees at too many of the other
| places, the routine of life there is coun-
try-like in its simplicity, and vet in one
respect Narragansett Pier is considered
| shocking place by those who wish a
world of their own making. That is on
| account of the drinking by the ladies.
After the bathing it is an old and gen
eral Gust I'M there for the ladies to retire
to the Casino or to their hotels and in
dulge in cobblers, juleps or some of
those other sweet and conglomerate de-
coctiOns which the fair sex prefers to
simple draughts of liquor. Since the
Casino has been the main institution
there, this drinking has been more public
than before, and not even the prohibitory
law of last year put an end to it.
But those who criticise the custom have
not had the advantages of observation
that they might avail themselves of. If
they had made a study of all the beach
resorts, they would have discovered
this peculiar fact about drinking
by the ladies: that it is marked feature
only where there is an excessive indul-
gence in bathing The resorts where
bathing is the main amusement and ex-
ercise are Cape May and Narragansett
Pier, and it is in these two places that
the ladies are charged with tipping after
the bath. The reason is as patent as the
sum of two and two. The bathing is
weakening in its first effects, and mild
restorative or stimulant is craved by the
system. There would be no excuse for
this at Bar Harbor, where the bathing
amounts TO nothing, and so it is not
noticed there.
The most peculiar delights of Nara
gansett Pier, the ones that make the
place unique, are the Indian Rocks and
the Haunted Park. If you will follow
the young couples just after the heat of
the afternoon is over they will lead you
through as pretty a piece of cool and
dimly-lighted woodland as it will ever
be your fortune to sea tangle of for
est and underground dissected by a mar
row, tortuous path. This leads to the
Haunted Tower, an abandoned mansion
in park that has been neglected so long
that the once low hedges that fenced the
lawns are now towering walls, en-
closing room-like apartments ceiled
with the heavens and carpeted with
green turf. Jungles have developed from
sparse groves, and silence most mysteri-
GUS and fascinating reigns over the great /
tract. firing of this in time, the pictur-
esque procession of young couples you
have been following will lead you to the
oceans side and treat you to surprise
Of an extraordinary kind. The little
black, lichen-carved rocks that you saw
in front of the hotels are not to be found
here, but in their places are huge mounds
of stone, solid hills rising twenty feet
from the water and reaching out over
hundreds of feet of length. These rocks
are smooth-surfaced, as if the water had
once polished them, but they are filled
with cracks, crevices, and bowl-like i'm
oressions. If you go there on pleasant
afternoon you will find a girl and
BOY, or man and woman or a couple
IF women or couple of men in
every one of these depressions. The
effect is most curious. Each couple
s sheltered by an umbrella, so that the
'ocks are like great mushroom gardens.
The sea that stretches out to the horizon
$ forever heaving its pillows against
hese stones, filling the air with spray
hat falls like rain beyond the most ven
uresome couples of idlers These are
he famous Indian Rocks, relics of con-
Iulslon OF nature Of a period earlier
han any the Indians knew. There is
lothing at all resembling them at any
'ther coast resort. Behind, on the main
and, an avenue lined with stately cot
ages is rapidly building up. These and
he Casino, which is the property of the
have brought a new element
o the pier-an element of wealth and
ashion-and it is predicted that in short
ime the place will be expensive and ex-
lusiye instead of popular as it is to-day.
JULIAN RALPH.